Initially

Initials printed on book pages.

Quick, cheap and personal.

You could also use these as gift tags as they would make a nice keepsake for a wedding.

 

Odd Socks

Odd socks are a prominent feature in our house. 

They tend to be left in little piles on the landing, 

waiting for a partner that may not show up for weeks!

I found some inspiration on
Tatertots and Jello

and
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

My take on the whole thing is a bit more elegant (if I say so myself) because I have no laundry room so it is on display on the landing where anyone can see it.
It came together like this..

Music boxes

The cubbyholes on my desk always accumulate bits,

bits that make it look untidy, various USB leads, notebooks, chargers and so on.

I found a couple of boxes that were a perfect fit and covered them in music sheets to make them look nice.

Easy peasy.

Actually I lie, the boxes didn't fit, at all,

I emptied lots of cereal boxes and other food boxes to find a fit 

but all to no avail. 

I had to somewhat reconstruct a few to get a fit I was happy with and in my frustration I never thought to 

photograph my tormented struggles for your amusement!

So that will be left to your imaginations.

I thought the boxes looked OK but rather bland so I found some felt,

bought some beads, cut out some templates in paper...

used the templates to cut out felt flowers

then I stitched them all like this....

Then I tightened the thread 

and fixed it to make the flowers more 3 dimensional....

then I stacked the flowers and added beads

stitched it ll together

and hot glued it to the front of the boxes.

Much prettier and I'm very pleased with my now much tidier desk

From a box of treats to a treat box

I needed something nice looking to store the cat-treats in 

as they are always in the lounge 

and the glass jar they were in just didn't please my delicate eyes.

Enter this tin that briefly contained gorgeous chocolates 

brought back from Paris as a treat for my sweet, sweet children.

A quick spray paint later it was white and boring.

I tried painting lettering on it but with shaky hands that quickly went wrong.

After a few days with my thinking cap on I found a card with cats in a drawer, cut it to size, glued it to the top, rubbed transfer letters on (not without difficulty, hence the faded texture to some of them, but in the end that  kind of adds to its charm I think) and a coat of varnish later I had this...

Cute ne?

I am rather pleased with it.

Tissue box makeover

I  wear glasses and always keep cotton handkerchiefs around to wipe smudges off them, 

especially when I watch TV or use the computer. 

BUT, the clean ones get mixed up with used ones so I needed a nice way of storing the clean ones....

...cue the empty tissue box....

not very pretty in it self so I decided to dress it up a little

I deconstructed the box 

and glued music sheets on to cover 

(forgot to turn it over for a second photo, but I'm sure you'll  understand what I mean)

and cut off any excess before putting it back together with a bit of craft glue.

It looked a little bland still so I found a pretty ribbon and just tied it around the bottom for a final touch.

I haven't glued it on so I can change the ribbon to a different colour if I want a quick change.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

Here it is in all it's glory, on a very ugly and messy desk.

Can you see it? It is there, right at the top!

See the little box in the bottom left of the cubbyholes? 

I'll show you the making of that in a separate post.

I am currently dealing with the state of that desk/office area as it is in the lounge and pretty much the first thing you see when you come in the house.

I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Cooler to holder

From stained and dingy wine cooler to fresh and white utensil holder. A couple of layers of undercoat and a few layers of white on top and I'm no longer disgusted looking at it.  I'm still considering whether to leave it plain or add a graphic from Graphics Fairy.

Card from old dictionary

  Card made from old dictionary pages printed over with graphics from 

Graphics Fairy and a few other bits I found laying around.

I made it as a thank you card for my SIL  because she generously contributed
to my birthday trip to Paris.

Repurposing in the kitchen

I used to keep lots of different loose teas in pretty tins at home but over the years I have got lazy and also there are no "teashops" around here, we briefly had a Whittards but that's not the same as shop walls lined with giant teacaddies filled with the most amazing smelling teas to be bought in as large or small (!) quantities as you please!
Anyway, I digress, the point is I have some lovely tins but nothing in them so I looked around the kitchen and decided that the hamstertreats could go in there rather than in the ugly plastic tubs they were in, this is practical and I get to have my tins on display for a reason. I don't like to display things just for the hell of it, they need to have a purpose. The hamster food is stored in an equally pretty tin that was given to me.


We also had seed packets and a few seed potatoes floating around in the kitchen and they are now stored in a very pretty casserole dish that is way to small for a family of 4, I just can't bear to get rid of it, besides, the kids won't live at home forever so there will come a time when it suits its intended purpose in my home.

A tatty old winecooler serves as a "cooking-tool" caddy because the ones you can buy are always too small and way to low to not topple over.


Lastly (a not very unique idea I'm sure but I was on a roll!) a nice tin that held biscuits (for about 5 min!) when it was gifted to us, now serves as storage for crispbread. It was just the perfect size for a pack.